Seattle Busses got new Seats

 

Those seats lookin good. I mean, you could SIT in them. You almost want to. They're more alluring than other public transportation.

In fact, the Seattle Public Transit Authority should probably feature those seats in a video that ends with, "You can sit here."

Ya know, unlike those other cities where... you don't want to sit. Their seats look contagious.

Do a whole video series ripping other cities for bad seats. "Come to Seattle... you can sit here."

I don't know, but your question should be asked as part of the video. That was enthusiastic, and Seattle Metro needs an enthusiastic spokesman.

"Man, lookat these SEATS!"

*slaps seat*
"You can put so much ass in this seat."

Testimonials:

"I missed my stop because I fell asleep in this seat, and I didn't even care. Brother, you got to ride the bus!"

I too, demand cosmic bowling carpet for busses. We need to petition the city for this.

Hey, if people are going to bring so many drugs on the bus anyway, it might as well be ENJOYABLE!!

"Seattle, we made the investment, and now we got the best drug busses in the nation."

Detect Maximum Ram

CMD

Run

wmic memphysical get MaxCapacity, MemoryDevices

 

 = 64 GB / 4 slots = 8GB per slot.

Language Awareness

There's a lot of linguistic rules that people follow without being very aware of them or their mechanics.




For example:
We say 'really amazing', but not 'very amazing'
We say 'Have you got any apples', but not 'have you got some apples'

An ESL teacher needs to be aware of these rules and be able to talk about them if asked during a job interview, or while teaching.

For countable nouns, we use 'any'. Do you have any pens.
Uncountable nouns are paired with 'some'. Do you have some water. Some ink. Some tape.

To learn more, consider: Understanding and Using English Grammar by Bettie Azar

I like to tell people that a lot of our language rules are based on sounding sophisticated and intelligent. When in doubt about which way to say something, the way which sounds most sophisticated is usually correct. We want language to sound beautiful. There are still rules, however, and one should know, understand, and be ready to teach them.



Gerunds

Colocations

Maintenance

HOUSE

-Washing Machine filter- clean every 2 months -use self cleaning option in front loading washers seasonally as they are prone to mildew and mold

-Dryer lint filter - clean every 1-2 uses (dryer vent going outside needs clearing as needed to prevent buildup)

-Dish Washer- Filter cleaned as needed

-Refrigerator Water Filter - 6 months

-Refrigerator coils- clean every 6 months (this saves on power consumption as it makes the coils more efficient)

-HVAC air filter- 2-3 months depending on animals and occupants

-HVAC inspection- once a year- AC should be serviced in spring and heat inspected in fall

-Inspect fire extinguisher- monthly (if you don't have one get one, make sure it's rated for A,B, and C fires)

-Water Heater- check pressure release valve every 6 months Flush once a year -replace anode rod every 3-5 years (keeps your water heater from rusting

-Gutters- clean as needed depending upon how much tree coverage you have

-Asphalt roof- 20 years

CAR

-Oil/Coolant/Tire Pressure- checked every month (check when vehicle is cool)

-Belts/hoses- check every 3 months

-Oil - change between 3-10k miles ( check user manual)

-Tires- Rotate every 1-2 oil changes or 5-10k miles (use penny test to check wear, note any uneven wear, uneven wear may be a sign of an alignment or balance issue)

-Windshield wipers- when streaks appear

-Engine air filter- 15- 30k miles (check user manual)

-Cabin air filter- 15k-25k or once a year

-Fuel filter- every 20-40k mile, newer cars may not need replaced as often (check user manual)

-Spark Plugs- replace every 30k miles (check user manual)

-Serpentine Belt- replace ~40k miles (check user manual)

-Brake Fluid- replace every 20-40k miles (check user manual)

-Brake pads- replace up to 50k miles or when you hear the "squealing" sound

-Brake rotors- replaced or resurface every 60k miles ( can only be resurfaced once) it's best to go ahead and do this when replacing pads.

-Coolant- replace every 60k (add when needed)

-Timing Belt- replace ~75k miles (check user manual) ( a belt failure can cause damage to other parts costing a lot more money that a simple belt replacement)

-Transmission fluid- replace 30-100k miles (check user manual)

-Power steering fluid- replace at 75k

MISCELLANEOUS

Vacuum Cleaner - filters cleaned once a month

Kitchen knives- hone (maintain) and sharpen (revitalize) kitchen knives as needed. Look up a guide so that you do this correctly.

Cast iron cookware- season annually

Leather furniture - 6-12 months

Leather boots - 1-12 months dependent on usage

Lawn Mower/yard equipment- air filter cleaned once a month (replace once a year) Replace oil every 20-50 hours or atleast annually Drain gas at the end of the season

Gas- any gas stored longer than a month should have a stabilizer added to it to prevent deterioration that can gunk up carbuerators. (I recommend startron)

Rain gear- wash atleast once a year.

Tents, sleeping bags, etc - air out at least once a year. If they get wet while using allow to air out once you're home to avoid moisture causing mildew and mold growth.

Electronics with batteries - if stored for an extended period of time keep batteries outside of the compartment to avoid corrosion and save battery life.

Desktop/laptop- clean air intake every 6 months

The Sleepy Tiger - ESL Flashcard Game

The Sleepy Tiger

Scatter props or flashcards nearby. Pretend to sleep. Coteacher whispers the name of an item and chooses 3-4 students to quietly retrieve the correct item and give it to them. If students are too loud, then the sleepy tiger wakes up and will chase them to their seats.

*Explain to the rest of the class that they must softly sing the tiger to sleep.

To make this more playful and fun, you can pretend to sleep restlessly as students get closer. E.g. grunt, raise your head, and scratch your ear, then stretch, yawn, and go back to sleep. During little sleep disturbances, they will want to be extra quiet and stay still. You could even open your eyes, rub them, and look around the room a little bit, but not directly at the students.

Students who are not actively participating should quietly chant a sentence pattern with the word. E.g. "Get the rainbow, get the rainbow." (Now they're reciting a sentence pattern instead of just one word.) The sentence pattern can be changed. "Bring Lulu the rainbow" "I will get the rainbow" "Quietly get the rainbow." - This game can be used to teach a variety of sentence patterns, however do take care to teach the meaning of new sentences and words instead of having the students blindly reciting them.

Once a student grabs the correct card, chase everybody back to their seats. Take the card, and ask, "What is this?" - Everybody should answer. If someone is not participating, single them out until they answer, "It's a rainbow." Singling students out for participation after each phase of a game will teach them that the fun stops if you don't participate, and everybody sees it's your fault. Do this only as needed, and apply to other games until the desired amount of participation and compliance is reached.

Predator puppets are good for this game. The puppet can be what is sleeping. This allows the teacher to talk to the students and to do the game without a coteacher.

Game modifications:

Sly Fox Style: If the tiger opens its eyes, you must stand still. If you move, the teacher calls your name and you must go back to your seat or the start line. This allows the tiger to suddenly wake up, look about, etc. This is more playful and active. Students will try to run. This modification works well 'only jumping is allowed'.

The Tiger is Listening: If the tiger hears you giggle, you must go back to the start line. Make this playful, fun, and challenging by making funny faces, noises, and behaviors.

Freeze Tag: If you catch a student, then they are frozen and cannot move. They can be rescued by having another student touch them. The sleepy tiger will guard their treasure, and frozen students are part of that treasure. Perhaps a frozen student needs to be touched with the chosen flash card.

Switch roles: If a student is caught, they become the next tiger. The teacher can help them to choose a word for the next round of the game. Catch with touches, not by grabbing. Grabby teachers leads to grabby students and you don't want them grabbing each other because they will get rough and will not let go to break contact. This leads to escalation and emotional rivalries.

Get your backpack: If you see that there's only a few minutes of class time remaining, you can put all of the student backpacks around you, and challenge them to get your backpack and return to their seats. This works well with a tiger that is awake, but is also very slow when chasing. While you are chasing one student, the other students will be in a hurry to get their backpacks and return to their seats for safety. They should chant something like, "Get my backpack!" "I can get my backpack." "Quietly get your backpacks." Alternatively to sitting, you can have them line up at the coteacher.

Random ESL Teaching Tips 001

Songs used to start class should involve choreography instead of being sang without movement. This improves focus and you'll easily tell if a student isn't participating. It's ok to stop a song to address a particular student who isn't participating. The class will learn that they'll get bored and have to repeat if someone isn't participating. This puts pressure on that individual.

Want a song to be fun? Do it super fast, and then try slow too.

If a song doesn't have choreography, consider adding it.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star has the same melody as the ABC song. This may make it easier to learn and perform. This may be good for a school play or performance.

The game 'Duck, Duck, Goose, Goose' can be played with the words quiet and loud. You can do other word pairs as well, e.g. big/small, slow/fast. Have everybody chant the first word together, and then shout the last one together, but their voices don't have to be in unison.

Chinese Students Failing to be Creative

A reddit post:





My reply:



Yet, everybody says that the American system of education is brain washing. Considering that students are terrified of being in an individual... who's brainwashing now?

It's not just about there only being one correct answer, it's about being part of a group and giving the groupthink answer instead of being an individual.

They literally do not want to be an individual or be seen as one, they're terrified of it. They become dependent upon their parents and peers for thinking.

This is why people in their 40s still call mom to make life decisions such as leaving an employer, finding a boyfriend, buying a home or a car. Some even have their parents manage all of their finances for them.

So they don't just need training in creativity, but evaluation of situations for decision making, actual decision making, acting as an individual instead of acting as a group, etc.

Creativity is a big part of it, but there's a reason that the Borg in StarTrek don't have art or poetry and would struggle to create that if separated from their collective. They would also struggle to appreciate it.

And now it gets personal, if you show art, poetry, expressionism, creative works to a Chinese person... they can't appreciate it and might think something is wrong with you like you're retarded and overly emotional. China has Chinese art, which... you guessed it, all looks the same. Why do Chinese cultural and traditional art all look the same? It's more than just because "This is our art style." - Why do ALL of the artists, especially the historic ones, ALL have the same style, the same rules, the same product? Why didn't any of the Chinese artists do something unique?

Now compare that to Western art. Our art is all OVER the place. We did all kinds of crazy stuff, and no two artists are alike. But in China, all artists were alike, and many of them strive to BE alike. In fact, they'll spend years of their life trying to master the ability to replicate the works of other masters... and if they do something unique, then that's fucking reject trash to them. They certainly won't be able to sell it, will they?

This is changing, this is changing really fast. But still... look how many people decide to be an artist, and then never strive to do anything unique?

The entire culture is mindfucked in exactly this way. So you as a teacher ask your students for individual answers, thoughts, feelings. You tell them to say or do something DIFFERENT instead of asking everybody to do the same thing. They've never dealt with that before.

It didn't happen at home. It didn't happen at school. It didn't even happen during their free time. That's where you get the situations of a white guy saying, "Do something different, anything is good." and the student looses it, refusing to do anything at all. Because anything would be wrong, and anything is bad. In Chinese culture, you follow and you copy. In Chinese history, bad things happen to people who don't.